October 12, 2011

If you are Dairy Free, Egg Free, Gluten Free, Vegan, Sugar Free, Corn Free, Nut Free ... basically, what I’m trying to say is that if you have any type of food allergy which hinders your enjoyment of the simple pleasure that is ice cream just break the mold and buy yourself an ice cream maker. Yes, it is possible to buy allergy-free ice cream and yes, some of it tastes really good but very little can compare to the real deal homemade iced cream from the gods...and sorbets too!

Con’s to buying an ice cream maker:
- It’s being lazy because you can technically make ice cream without a dedicated machine (but unless you’re a domestic goddess it’s unlikely that you will do it very often)
- It takes up space in your freezer or kitchen shelves

Pro’s to buying an ice cream maker:
- They’re really not that expensive
- No matter what your food allergy you will probably be able to create an ice cream that is suitable
- The flavour possibilities are endless
- The taste of soft cold freshly churned ice cream is hard to beat
- Home-made anything is free from all the nasties like preservatives, enhancers, colours, GLUTEN, etc,etc
- It doesn’t take up THAT much space in your freezer or kitchen shelves
- Free From food allergen ice cream can give your pocket book a beating at €5-7 a tub and up
- Making Ice Cream in a machine is one of the easiest, fastest homemade free from desserts you are likely to find, and if you keep the machine permanently stored in your freezer, fresh free from ice cream is never more then 60 minutes away!

And if you're worried about all the extra pounds you will put on from eating bowl after bowl of allergy free ice cream fear not because I promise that once you get the knack of it even your cow drinking friends and family will love you more because you will now be the provider of sweet soft and beautiful ice cream and it will swiftly disappear before you can over indulge for they will neither know nor care if it doesn’t have ‘real’ milk or that it just so happens to NOT contain any gluten or wheat or eggs or even sugar like the recipe below!!

All your guests will know is that they are eating some seriously nice ice cream!

Ingredients:
1 tin pineapple chunks
300ml soya cream (almond cream would work for a soya free alternative but the quantity of sweetener may need to be altered to taste - I used Provamel Organic Soya Cream)
1tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup vanilla extract (be careful to use pure extract which is Gluten Free)

1. Measure out 8oz of the Pineapple, equal parts of both chunks and juice (retain the remaining pieces for step 5).
2. Purée the pineapple pieces and juice until smooth (I used a hand-held blender).
3. Strain out the stringy pulp by pressing the mixture through a sieve with a spoon. Discard the left over stringy pulp.

4. Mix the Pineapple Purée with the Soya Cream, Agave Nectar and Vanilla Extract. Blend thoroughly (again, I used the hand-held blender).

5. Chop the remaining chunks of pineapple into small cubes, discarding any pieces which don’t hold their shape. Stir into the cream mixture.

6. Chill the mixture in the fridge thoroughly (I put it in the freezer for about 15 minutes before moving it to the fridge to speed up the process).
7. And follow the instructions for your machine.
(note: I have a Le Glacier 1.5 Magimix Ice Cream Maker which requires the following: 1,Freeze the bowl for at least 12 hours 2, Mix the ingredients and thoroughly chill in the refrigerator
3, Turn on the machine 4, Once the paddle is turning, pour the chilled mixture into the ice cream maker and freeze-churn it for 20-30 minutes)

If you just glance at the above directions you will think that there is a lot involved but seriously the problem is that I am way long-winded so just get straight to the making, you’ll have ice cream in 35 minutes tops!
yum yum yum!